đź’° Singapore Tech Salaries Guide (2022): Are You Underpaid?

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Over the past few months, we compiled a list of some companies that pay above the market rate. The question remains: What is the salary market rate for tech talents in Singapore?

According to our 2021/2022 Tech Salary Report with Quest Ventures, salaries for software engineers have increased by 22 per cent to as much as 32 per cent in the last year.

But what about the other positions, such as Data Engineers, Data Analysts, DevOps and more? We deep dive into the salaries of tech talents of different specializations in this blog post.

TL;DR: Software Engineers' Salaries soared the most (22%)

  • Key observations
  • How to interpret the data?
  • Software Engineer Salaries
  • Mobile Engineer Salaries
  • Data Engineer Salaries
  • Data Analyst Salaries
  • Qualitative Assurance (QA) Salaries
  • DevOps Salaries
  • Cybersecurity Engineer Salaries
  • Solutions Engineer Salaries
  • Methodology

Note:

Data in this blog post are from our2021/2022 Tech Salary Report and reflect salary at the start of 2022. Given the volatility in both the private and public markets in 2022, the data might be slightly off.

Nevertheless, we think there are still merit in sharing as they should still be sufficiently relevant accurate as guidelines and benchmarks.

Key Observations

Some observations in a nutshell:

  1. Software Engineers' salaries increased the most (22%) among the different technical specializations (up to 32% for Lead positions).
  2. For Software Engineering roles, the 90th percentile is paid 2.2x to 3x more than those in the 10th percentile.
  3. For Software Engineering roles, the salary gap between the 90th & 10th percentile widens by as much as ~3.1x as it goes up the seniority ladder, from $4.5k in junior positions to $14k in managerial positions.

How to read the salary report?

Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP) vary widely from one company to another and range from 0% to 80% of one's annual compensation. As ESOP can have very different liquidity conditions and startup valuations are swinging wildly, we omitted them to have a fairer and more accurate comparison.

The salary values reflect the monthly base salary in Singapore dollars (SGD). Doing this will be a more accurate comparison. No stocks, no bonuses - cold hard cash.

The markers on the chart indicate the 10th, 30th, 50th, 70th and 90th percentile.

We also colour coded the chart based on the number of data points used to show the margin of error: Green for more than 500 data points, Amber for 200 to 499 data points and Red for 100 to 199 data points. We omitted seniority with under 100 data points to ensure data accuracy integrity.

The methodologies could be found in the last section of the blog post because it could be pretty lengthy.

Software Engineer Salaries 

Software Engineers include three key specialisations, Frontend, Backend and Full-Stack because they are relatively more similar. 

Software Engineer salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior Software Engineer salaries range from $3000 to $7500. The median salary is $4750.
  • Mid-level Software Engineer salaries range from $4250 to $9500. The median salary is $6500.
  • Senior Software Engineer salaries range from $5250 to $11500. The median salary is $7500.
  • Lead Software Engineer salaries range from $6500 to $15950. The median salary is $9000.
  • Principal Software Engineer salaries range from $6700 to $17000. The median salary is $10000.
  • Software Engineering Manager salaries range from $7000 to $21000. The median salary is $12000.

Mobile Engineer Salaries

Mobile Engineers include three key specialisations, Android, iOS and Cross-Platform.

Mobile Engineer salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior Mobile Engineer salaries range from $3250 to $7000. The median salary is $4750.
  • Mid-level Mobile Engineer salaries range from $4500 to $9000. The median salary is $6500.
  • Senior Mobile Engineer salaries range from $5500 to $11000. The median salary is $7500.
  • Lead Mobile Engineer salaries range from $6250 to $13500. The median salary is $8500.

Data Engineer Salaries

Data Engineer salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior Data Engineer salaries range from $3150 to $8500. The median salary is $5500.
  • Mid-level Data Engineer salaries range from $5500 to $10000. The median salary is $7250.
  • Senior Data Engineer salaries range from $6750 to $12500. The median salary is $8500.
  • Lead Data Engineer salaries range from $7500 to $15000. The median salary is $9500.

Data Analyst Salaries

Data Analysts' salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior Data Analysts' salaries range from $2750 to $6500. The median salary is $4250.
  • Mid-level Data Analysts' salaries range from $4000 to $9000. The median salary is $6000.
  • Senior Data Analysts' salaries range from $5000 to $10750. The median salary is $7250.

Qualitative Assurance (QA) Salaries

Quality Assurance (QA) salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior Quality Assurance (QA) salaries range from $2550 to $6000. The median salary is $3500.
  • Mid-level Quality Assurance (QA) salaries range from $3250 to $8375. The median salary is $5500.
  • Senior Quality Assurance (QA) salaries range from $4250 to $10500. The median salary is $7000.
  • Lead Quality Assurance (QA) salaries range from $5250 to $15000. The median salary is $7500.

DevOps Engineer Salaries

DevOps Engineer salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior DevOps Engineer salaries range from $4000 to $8500. The median salary is $6000.
  • Mid-level DevOps Engineer salaries range from $5500 to $10500. The median salary is $7500.
  • Senior DevOps Engineer salaries range from $6250 to $11666. The median salary is $8250.

Cybersecurity Engineer Salaries

Cybersecurity Engineer salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior Cybersecurity Engineer salaries range from $3000 to $6000. The median salary is $4250.
  • Mid-level Cybersecurity Engineer salaries range from $4250 to $9000. The median salary is $6250.
  • Senior Cybersecurity Engineer salaries range from $4750 to $15500. The median salary is $8400.

Solutions Engineer Salaries

Solutions Engineer salaries in Singapore for the different seniority are as such:

  • Junior Solutions Engineer salaries range from $3100 to $9500. The median salary is $4250.
  • Mid-level Solutions Engineer salaries range from $4250 to $13500. The median salary is $7500.
  • Senior Solutions Engineer salaries range from $6750 to $16000. The median salary is $10250.

Methodology

Salary data for Singapore are derived from NodeFlair’s proprietary database of over 30,000 data points from companies of all sizes and industries. This includes user submissions verified by documents (payslips and offer letters) as well as job advertisements aggregated from various job portals for the year 2021.

Titles and seniority might vary across companies. For example, smaller startups might reward the title of Senior Software Engineer to an engineer of 3 years of experience, but a much more established company might only reward the same title to someone with more than 8 years of experience.

  • Junior: Typically 0-2 years of experience. Mostly fresh graduates or engineers in their first job.
  • Mid: Typically 2-5+ years of experience. Able to mentor juniors and lead small scale projects end-to-end.
  • Senior: Typically 5+ years of experience. Expected to own complex technical initiatives and have more responsibility in designing rather than implementing.
  • Principal: Have deep practical experience gained and mostly answer directly to the senior management of their company. Titles include “Principal Engineer” and “Staff Engineer”
  • Lead: Main responsibility includes leading a small team in the technical areas. Might occasionally be involved in people management, but much less common. Titles include “Technical Lead” and “Team Lead”.
  • Manager: Main responsibilities include hiring and people management. Titles include “Engineering Manager” and “Software Development Manager (SDM)”.
  • Director: Having a deep understanding of the market and latest technologies. Main responsibilities include innovation and providing technical direction for the company. Titles include “CTO”, “Director of Engineering”, “V.P. / President of Engineering (excluding some banking and government organisations)” , “Head of Engineering” etc.

How can I know if I am underpaid?

So, you are a software engineer. Congrats! Your skills are in high demand and your salary reflects that. As more and more businesses require software engineer expertise, you can expect to see your salaries continue to increase.

But how do you know if you are underpaid?

Or how do you know you are not being lowballed for your new offer that just came in?

You can check out how much your fellow software engineers are actually getting paid on NodeFlair Salaries. It is a community-contributed salary data, verified with documents, such as payslips and offer letters. Within a few months since its launch, it already has the largest pool of verified and trustworthy tech salary data in Singapore.

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